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1) Overall, this was a pretty terrible weekend of college football. The only game of any real national impact was the Cocktail Party. This was the first time since 1996 that the top three teams in the AP poll had the same weekend off. In essence, the top five were off because No. 5 didn't play and No. 4 played Wofford. There's nothing that can be done about it, it was really just a coincidence that the off week fell at the same time for everyone. Bad weekend for Mizzou fans on a bye though. This is when you want your team to be playing a game so you have something worth watching.
2) Speaking of watching, I sat in the stands for a college football game for the first time since Nov. 3 2001, when Missouri played at Colorado. It wasn't the most well played game I've ever seen, but Notre Dame/Virginia Tech was exciting. Virginia Tech is a slightly better version of Kentucky. Quincy Patterson isn't quite as good a runner and might be a worse passer than Lynn Bowden. Tech has a pretty good defense, though. At one point, Patterson was 4/17. He finished 9/28 for 139 yards. But I wish everyone would have watched this game. Because the lesson it would teach is it doesn't just happen to your team. Notre Dame had four drives in the red zone that got the Irish zero points. Ian Book threw two picks and Notre Dame missed a 35 yard field goal. But the worst was the final drive of the first half. ND led 14-7 and really should have been up more. With 20 seconds left, they had 3rd and goal at the Hokie 1. Jafar Armstrong (yes, that one) went up the middle and a helmet hit right on the ball. It popped straight to VT DE Devine Deablo (top five name in college football) who ran it back 99 yards for a touchdown that tied the game at 14. VT then led for the first 29:31 of the second half.
Here are a couple of texts I got from a friend that is an ND fan who knew I was at the game:
"You are getting a full 'why I hate my favorite team' experience in South Bend"
"Ian Book is the worst player in America."
The Irish won when Book led an 18 play, 87 yard drive and capped it with a 7 yard touchdown run with 27 seconds to play. I texted my friend to ask "Still the worst?"
His response: "They are a garbage overrated piece of s--- program."
So, yeah, it happens to a lot of teams...and all of those teams' fans react the same way.
Side note: I've wanted to go to a game in South Bend for 30 years. Worth the experience. And I don't even like Notre Dame.
3) Let's go back in time for a minute. Baylor didn't play all that well, but beat West Virginia 17-14 in Morgantown on Thursday night. The Bears are now 8-0. They are at TCU, home for Oklahoma and Texas and at Kansas to end the regular season. I still don't love their chances of going unbeaten. But all they have to do to make the Big 12 title game is beat Texas and Kansas. Oklahoma is the only other Big 12 team with fewer than two losses. Baylor has already beaten Iowa State and Kansas State, which would give the Bears the tiebreaker there. If they beat the Longhorns, that's three league losses for UT and the Big 12 title game is an Oklahoma/Baylor rematch. If the teams split those games, the Big 12 has virtually no shot at the college football playoff (moral of the story: If you want to be able to afford a loss, Baylor, maybe you should have played someone other than Stephen F. Austin, UTSA and Rice in the non-conference season). But either way, Matt Rhule should be the Big 12 coach of the year and be in the conversation for national coach of the year.
4) The only thing I know about the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party is whichever team most people think are going to win it tends to lose it. I don't know what the line was for Georgia/Florida, but it felt like most people had decided Florida was a better team and would win it. Georgia suffocated the Bulldogs for three quarters in taking a 16-3 lead, then held on to win 24-17. Both teams have very good defenses. Georgia's a little better on both sides of the ball. The Bulldogs can't wrap up the SEC East with a win over Missouri next week, but they can come awfully close. If UGA beats Mizzou, everyone in the East except Florida has three league losses, which means the Gators are the only ones who can catch the Bulldogs. Since Georgia won the head to head matchup, to win the division, Florida would have to beat Vandy and Mizzou (seems likely) while Georgia lost to both Auburn and Texas A&M (seems unlikely). Basically a Georgia win in Athens next week would make the Bulldogs' magic number one and keep playoff hopes alive.
5) Who is further from being what their fans think they should be: Nebraska or Arkansas?
The easy answer is Arkansas. The Razorbacks lost 54-24 to a very disappointing Mississippi State team which is now 4-5 on the season. Kylin Hill is great and ran for 234 yards and three touchdowns, but the Bulldogs haven't looked like a team who should beat anyone by 30 points all season long. Of course, they haven't played the Razorbacks. The Hogs are now 2-7, 0-6 in the SEC. They might beat Western Kentucky next week, but then get LSU before the regular season finale against Mizzou in Little Rock. Best case scenario (save me your 'Missouri is awful and can't beat anyone right now') looks like 3-9, 0-8. That would make Chad Morris the first coach in SEC history to lose his first 16 games and leave him 5-19 through two seasons. You've got to be historically bad to get fired after two seasons...but Morris has been historically bad. The Razorbacks now have two of the eight longest league losing streaks in SEC history...and that's just since Mizzou joined the conference.
So Arkansas is the answer, right?
See, at this point, Razorback fans don't really expect their team to be good. Cornhusker fans still kind of do. I mean, let's never forget, NEBRASKA WAS RANKED IN THE TOP 25 IN THE PRESEASON POLL.
The Huskers lost 31-27 to Purdue yesterday. The Boilermakers had two quarterbacks throw for at least 62 yards yesterday and neither was named Elijah Sindelaar. They had five players gain at least a yard rushing and eight players catch a pass and none of them were named Rondale Moore. They won their third game of the season. Nebraska joins Vanderbilt and Maryland on an illustrious list of Purdue's victims. The Huskers are headed for their third straight losing season unless they beat Maryland and upset either Wisconsin or Iowa. From 1962-2014, Nebraska had two losing seasons...total. The last time the Huskers had a losing record three years in a row? 1959-61, after which they fired some dude named William Jennings and hired some dude named Bob Devaney. Nebraska has sped straight past irrelevant to flat out bad. How's the homecoming going, Scott Frost?
6) SMU/Memphis was every bit as entertaining as everyone thought it would be. The Tigers won 56-48 in a game which did actually feature defensive players on the field, but did not actually feature defensive players doing anything of note. Shane Buechele threw for 456 yards and three touchdowns for the Mustangs. Brady White countered with 350 yards and three TDs for Memphis. The game featured 1,067 offensive yards, no turnovers and more touchdowns (11) than punts (8).
The race for the G5 playoff spot is pretty interesting. Memphis and Cincinnati (survived 46-43 with a last second field goal against East Carolina) are in the driver's seat. But Navy, Boise State, SMU, Appalachian State (lost for the first time Thursday night) and Air Force all have a chance.
Speaking of Air Force...
7) Official team account Twitter trolling is the best Twitter trolling
8) My Heisman poll of one:
Joe Burrow, LSU
Chase Young, Ohio State
Jalen Hurts, Oklahoma
9) If the playoff started today, which it doesn't, but the initial rankings do come out Tuesday night, here's how I'd seed it:
1) LSU vs 4) Clemson
2) Ohio State vs 3) Alabama
Other teams with a chance: Georgia, Penn State, Minnesota, Oregon, Utah, Oklahoma, Baylor. Your national champ will be one of those 11 teams.
10) Five games I'll watch next week:
Baylor at TCU, TBD, Saturday: I think the Frogs pull the upset
Penn State at Minnesota, 11 am Saturday, ABC: Winner stays alive for the playoff. Loser probably doesn't.
LSU at Alabama, 2:30 Saturday, CBS: Game of the year so far
Kansas State at Texas, 2:30 Saturday, ESPN: Chris Klieman has a legitimate chance to win ten games in his first season
Appalachian State at South Carolina, 6:00 Saturday, ESPN2: This is a tough one for the Gamecocks
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